Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Courtesy of the state DMV, this fancy map shows the impact of vehicle accidents in our beloved earth-toned community in 2010, the most recent year in which data was available. While there were only three fatalities (indicated by red triangles), there were certainly plenty of injuries (yellow circles) and property damage (green circles) in and around Reston. Aside from a slew of fender-benders on the commuter hellscapes of Rt. 7 and the Toll Road, the takeaway appears to be to stay off of Reston Parkway, Wiehle Avenue, and, especially, Elden Street once you cross under the Great Wall of Reston and head out towards Herndon way. North Reston appears to have fewer accidents (though we're sure the ones that did happen there involved much nicer, more sought after cars than elsewhere in Reston). Oddly enough, the pre-dieted Soapstone Roadand the post-dieted Personal Injury Lawyers Road both stand out as not being particularly accident prone, at least on this fancy map, the end.

(Shout out to our favorite correspondent, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, for this find.)

Update: Just hours after this "web log" was posted, we found this picture of a trash truck driving on the wrong side of a Reston street on the Twitter machines. Proof's in the pudding, etc., etc.

13 comments:

How timely, considering that I had a very young looking male driver in a black Lexus use one of the suicide lanes in order to pass me (with one of the Delinquents) on Monday evening. I guess he was upset that I was only doing 2-3 mph over the posted speed limit.

And another big shout out to that critical mass of cyclists, who swarm like spandexed locusts late every Tuesday afternoon, for riding in the eastbound car lane of Lawyers Road rather than the bike lane set aside for them. MORONS!

The bike lanes are great -- but after a big storm they are often covered in debris which is dangerous for the cyclist. It is particularly bad along Soapstone and Lawyers because of the tree overhangs. As for the "salmon" rider, sometimes people do dumb things -- give a little grace and be glad the person was in the bike lane at all.

As for the team riders on Tuesday afternoon -- if you know they do it regularly, and it's sending your blood pressure up, go a different way so you don't have to look at them! A team cannot solely use the bike lane. And here's a news bulletin -- even if there is a bike lane, the law does not REQUIRE the bicyclists to use it. It's a courtesy for the drivers and cyclists to share the road -- not a prison for the cyclist.

For those of you who are critical of cyclists -- try living someplace where they outnumber the cars. You have it really easy here, comparatively speaking. As I cycle around Reston, using all manner of paths, roads, sidewalks, etc., my number one priority is safety -- mine and other people's. I have been yelled at on the paths by people walking their dogs (sans leashes), run out of the bike lanes by people in cars trying to turn across the bike lane, yelled at for using the crosswalks (with a walk light no less) by motorists telling me to "get back on the &*($# bike trail." Nonetheless, I try to smile and keep going with safety in mind.

What the map and these comments tell me is that everyone needs to lighten up, pay attention to what you're doing, and quit thinking you're the most important person on the road.

I am an avid cyclist (century rider, bike commuter) who enjoys all the bike lanes and paths in our mauve paradise and its environs. However, I have been in too many situations where "salmon" riders endanger cyclists riding in the correct direction in the bike lane by forcing one or both parties to swerve out of the way into the street or up the sidewalk. This has happend to me in Reston, Arlington and DC. This type of behavior also gives automobile drivers ammunition against "stupid, non-law abiding cyclists who don't belong on the road."

I was stopped at the stop sign at Glade the other evening coming down Soapstone. A group of about 50 cyclists blew through the intersection en masse. There is a stop sign at that intersection and cyclists are vehicles and are required to stop at stop signs. Not one cyclists obeyed the law and stopped.

Arrogant much?

I'd like to see some citations from the police for this illegal behavior.

Anon 4:38,I've seen that behavior as well. Really irritating when the 553 bus I'd be on would have to crawl behind them on Glade from Twin Branches to Soapstone, since they took up the whole lane for 75 to 100 yards and couldn't be safely passed.

If it was on a Tuesday, it was the Reston Bicycle Club. For a touch of irony, their web site has an adomnition to its members in red "Keep safe and set a good example for other riders - obey all traffic signs and laws!"

Elsewhere on their web site, on the page for leader guide and ride equitette, it says "ride single file and stay to the right on busy streets" as well as "obey all traffic laws, including stop signs and lights".

Unlike the old U.S. Navy saying that 2 percent never get the message, with these cyclists it's more like 2 percent actually get the message.

Glade from Twin Branches to Soapstone is a FCPD "Cherry Spot." There are so many radar traps they's melt the wax off your car. Pity they can't take time from meeting revenue quotas to actually cite cyclists for violations.

BTW, I am a cyclist myself. Having never heard of a cyclist getting cited for anything, ever, obviously laws don't apply to me when I'm pedaling.